If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Eleazar For This Useful Post:

Re: PG vs predecessors

I dunno, seemed like JO had a lot of hype and expectations following that MVP-candidate season. He was on an episode of Cribs, if I remember correctly, and his jersey was showing up in music videos. I'm not sure if that was right after his payday, or the year after, but he did get a lot of publicity as being a top player in the league, to the point where there was a discussion as to if he was on par with Duncan. As for Reggie, I think he had peaked before he received any of his big paydays, and when Jordan is in your division, you're just not going to get that kind of talk about being the best player in the league. That, and the league had a lot of great players then, as well. On top of all that, Reggie's regular season numbers were very good, but not great. And I may be misremembering this, I was very young.

I don't think anyone thought Jalen was going to be a top player when he got paid. He was an integral part of a great team, but that would be like saying people thought Rip Hamilton was going to be a top player. Just a good player on a great team.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Eindar For This Useful Post:

Re: PG vs predecessors

Reggie has been my favorite Pacer for a long time. He entered the league older and didn't explode as suddenly and as brightly. Also, at no time did people around the league consider Reggie to be a top 5 type of player or quite frankly a superstar talent.

JO was one of my favorite players until I got to know his personality better. He entered the league very young and sat in Portland. Once he came here he pretty quickly became "the man". He may have also been the first NBA Pacer superstar...but-for his injuries.

Jalen was a nice player but doesn't belong in the conversation. He had a few really good years but many so-so years well after he entered the league and even after he became a Pacer.

With Paul, it's really rare air we are talking about. Paul is on the trajectory of a Kobe Bryant-ish type of player. Incredible defense, incredible athleticism and incredible talent. It's just hard to beat guys who are physically gifted, supremely talented and extremely hard workers. Reggie was a couple of those things but Paul is all three. JO probably had all three and could have been Garnett or Duncan level...but alas he went down to injury.

Re: PG vs predecessors

This thread blows my mind, No question that Paul is the best sf the Pacers have had since Roger Brown but he brought us three titles! I want to see at least one from PG before I say he is the best Pacer ever. Don't get me wrong he is awesome and we are lucky to have him on our team and to get to watch his career. But I watched much of Reggie's career and I can tell you that if the Pacers were down 10 with three minutes to go I knew we still had a shot because Reggie was AMAZING. Yes he was not as good of a defender as PG but he won games. I cant even begin to count the number of game winners Reggie has hit over the years (I am sure there is a stat somewhere but I know its wrong they leave out a lot of games I remember him hitting game winners)

I feel very lucky to have witnessed his time and even able to see some of them in person. (I live 100 miles away so not a regular game attender although I drove to every single home game in the 2000 playoffs and almost lost a wife over it) If you did not start watching Reggie until 2000 or later you really missed out, he was still great then but before that he was on another level. I need to see PG win us a heck of a lot of games before I put him ahead of Reggie or Roger Brown.

One last thing about Reggie, when the other team would hit a huge shot at the end and their fans were celebrating but then would see Reggie get the ball they would all go into panic mode and the entire place would shudder with fear. They knew it was going in, they knew they had just lost the game because Reggie was taking the shot and more often than not they were right.

Re: PG vs predecessors

This thread blows my mind, No question that Paul is the best sf the Pacers have had since Roger Brown but he brought us three titles! I want to see at least one from PG before I say he is the best Pacer ever. Don't get me wrong he is awesome and we are lucky to have him on our team and to get to watch his career. But I watched much of Reggie's career and I can tell you that if the Pacers were down 10 with three minutes to go I knew we still had a shot because Reggie was AMAZING. Yes he was not as good of a defender as PG but he won games. I cant even begin to count the number of game winners Reggie has hit over the years (I am sure there is a stat somewhere but I know its wrong they leave out a lot of games I remember him hitting game winners)

I feel very lucky to have witnessed his time and even able to see some of them in person. (I live 100 miles away so not a regular game attender although I drove to every single home game in the 2000 playoffs and almost lost a wife over it) If you did not start watching Reggie until 2000 or later you really missed out, he was still great then but before that he was on another level. I need to see PG win us a heck of a lot of games before I put him ahead of Reggie or Roger Brown.

One last thing about Reggie, when the other team would hit a huge shot at the end and their fans were celebrating but then would see Reggie get the ball they would all go into panic mode and the entire place would shudder with fear. They knew it was going in, they knew they had just lost the game because Reggie was taking the shot and more often than not they were right.

I feel like you are answering a question that was not presented. The OP was talking about how much hype players got.

Re: PG vs predecessors

Reggie has been my favorite Pacer for a long time. He entered the league older and didn't explode as suddenly and as brightly. Also, at no time did people around the league consider Reggie to be a top 5 type of player or quite frankly a superstar talent.

JO was one of my favorite players until I got to know his personality better. He entered the league very young and sat in Portland. Once he came here he pretty quickly became "the man". He may have also been the first NBA Pacer superstar...but-for his injuries.

Jalen was a nice player but doesn't belong in the conversation. He had a few really good years but many so-so years well after he entered the league and even after he became a Pacer.

With Paul, it's really rare air we are talking about. Paul is on the trajectory of a Kobe Bryant-ish type of player. Incredible defense, incredible athleticism and incredible talent. It's just hard to beat guys who are physically gifted, supremely talented and extremely hard workers. Reggie was a couple of those things but Paul is all three. JO probably had all three and could have been Garnett or Duncan level...but alas he went down to injury.

This.

JO was definitely a superstar, but ultimately wasn't tough nor mature enough to be the best player on a championship team. I always viewed Ron as a quasi-superstar (pre brawl) due to his unique ability to dominate games back then.

I don't think we've ever seen anybody have as much hype regarding their talent as Paul has...and rightfully so. NOBODY within the Pacers NBA franchise history has been as talented as Paul is....and it's not even close (when we're talking about sheer talent)

Re: PG vs predecessors

JO was definitely a superstar, but ultimately wasn't tough nor mature enough to be the best player on a championship team. I always viewed Ron as a quasi-superstar (pre brawl) due to his unique ability to dominate games back then.

I don't think we've ever seen anybody have as much hype regarding their talent as Paul has...and rightfully so. NOBODY within the Pacers NBA franchise history has been as talented as Paul is....and it's not even close (when we're talking about sheer talent)

I think Rajah was, but I never watched the guy. Other than that, definitely agree.

The Following User Says Thank You to mattie For This Useful Post:

Re: PG vs predecessors

In terms of hype I think there is pretty much no question PG has gotten the most ever for a Pacer nationally. JO might come close but even in his MVP-contention season he was always kind of a dark horse. PG is the first beginning of season Pacer MVP contender in the eyes of the media (and therefore the world, right?).

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

Re: PG vs predecessors

I would not put JO in the list for comparison. Different type of player. Otherwise Mel Daniels and big George would have to be included in this debate. Certainly barring injury Paul George has the opprotunity to be the best Pacer in the NBA era.

Re: PG vs predecessors

I would not put JO in the list for comparison. Different type of player. Otherwise Mel Daniels and big George would have to be included in this debate. Certainly barring injury Paul George has the opprotunity to be the best Pacer in the NBA era.

But Rose was not a franchise player. Reggie was the star on the team every year Rose was in Indiana.

Re: PG vs predecessors

BlueAndGold nailed but I'll add my 2 cents. I don't think any Pacers player has had as much hype as Paul George going into a season or at the beginning of one.

Reggie was consistently great and really good after getting his big payday but there weren't any MVP talk about his play. JO was good as well immediately after getting his max-deal but going into that season he was talked about in the media as much as Paul George is right now. Neither Reggie or JO were in multiple national NBA commercials like PG. PG is featured in 3 different commercials right now and I can only imagine he'll be showing up in more if he continues his strong play.

It makes sense though because 3-point snipers and post players aren't as popular as a triple threat player (Scoring, Defense, High-Flying-Athleticism) like Paul George. Paul George is rapidly rising to the popularity of Dwayne Wade.